North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has executed a general of the Korean People’s Army in what Bloomberg reports was the latest in his purge of senior North Korean officials.
General Pyon In Son, head of army operations, was killed last month after he expressed a difference in opinion with the country’s leader, according to a South Korean official who discussed the matter with Seoul reporters on Wednesday under the condition of anonymity due to government policy regarding such matters.
The official indicated that Kim still maintains a distrust of his own military, adding that the senior officers are becoming “increasingly uneasy.”
The North Korean ruler removed a National Defense Commission official, Ma Won Chun, who was overseeing construction design. Won Chun was removed from office in November on allegations of corruption and failure to follow orders.
Bloomberg‘s report indicates that the communist leader has relied on “purges” as a means by which to consolidate his hold on power in the country of more than 24 million people since he took over the country back in 2011.
Kim killed his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek back in 2013 and executed roughly 50 officials in 2014 on charges which ranged from graft to watching South Korean soap operas.
North Korea, which recently test-fired 5 short range missiles into the sea, was implicated by the FBI in the Sony Hack and it was later revealed that the NSA had hacked the North years before the cyber-attack on Sony’s systems.
Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University said that the “purge of Pyon” conveys a message which aids in the discipline of the military and that the execution is a symbol which “will help tighten loyalty.”
The purge of Pyon sends a message that helps to discipline the military (…) The execution is a symbol that will help tighten loyalty.
Pyon was promoted to four-star general back in March of 2014 and then stripped of his command, as he was removed from office in November.
What do you think of Kim Jong-un’s purges?
